How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Matthew 23:37
Jesus spoke these words in a pretty heavy conversation with the religious folk of His day. He was addressing the push back and hypocrisy of those who said they knew God, yet were poor representatives of God. Can you imagine how it would go over today to have someone be so honest as to call the leaders a bunch of snakes? Yet, that is how honest and truthful Jesus was to the religious leaders of His day a few verses earlier in this passage. He was telling them they have misunderstood who God is and gave evidence in how they have been guilty of leading others away from Him.
In this statement, Jesus, in a context of sadness over these religious leaders, reveals the very heart of God. The Lord longs to gather the sinful to Himself. He gives us a picture of a hen gathering her little ones to herself which is a very comforting and nurturing picture of God versus the picture that many of us have of a God ready to do away with us when we mess up. God wants to pull you in under His wings so that you can feel safe, comforted, nurtured, protected and looked after in a world that so easily can hurt us. Sadly, many miss this invitation of God because of our own unwillingness to see Him as He is, a loving Lord. What is keeping you from coming to Him today?
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